Doubts Raised Over Mark Kelly’s Illegal Orders Punishment

 https://www.newsweek.com/doubts-mark-kelly-illegal-orders-punishment-pentagon-11130982

According to reporting by The Associated Press, Colby Vokey, a civilian military attorney, said: “Let’s say you have a 100-year-old World War II veteran who is retired with pay and he steals a candy bar. Hegseth could bring him back and court-martial him. And that, in effect, is what is happening with Kelly.”

Patrick McLain, a retired Marine Corps judge, said: “I’ve not seen anything like the kind of wackadoodle thing they’re trying to do to Senator Kelly for essentially exercising his First Amendment right to free speech, which they don’t like.”

Pete Hegseth lashes out at 'kill them all' report on boat strikes

 https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/11/29/pete-hegseth-kill-them-all-caribbean-boat-strikes/87524160007

Since September, the Trump administration has attacked at least 21 boats traversing international waters, killing 83 people. Trump and other officials defend the boat strikes as an attempt to crackdown on illegal narcotics flooding into the U.S., but lawmakers from both parties have criticized the administration for providing no intelligence briefings or other evidence about what the vessels are carrying.

"At this point, I would call them extrajudicial killings," Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said during an Oct. 26 appearance on Fox News Sunday. "This is akin to what China does, what Iran does with drug dealers − they summarily execute people without presenting evidence to the public. So it's wrong."

The commander overseeing the operation from Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Adm. Frank M. “Mitch” Bradley, told people on the secure conference call that the survivors were still legitimate targets because they could theoretically call other traffickers to retrieve them and their cargo, according to two people. He ordered the second strike to fulfill Hegseth’s directive that everyone must be killed.

Late Friday, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) and Sen. Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island), respectively the chairman and senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, issued a statement about the “recent news reports — and the Department of Defense’s initial response — regarding alleged follow-on strikes on suspected narcotics vessels,” saying that they intend to conduct “vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to these circumstances.”

Under the 1949 Geneva Conventions, which are at the center of humanitarian rules and international standards, any wounded or sick combatants are to be retrieved and receive care by either side in a conflict.

But in his Nov. 28 post slamming the report, Hegseth argued that each "trafficker we kill is affiliated" with a terrorist group and the current U.S. operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law.

Hegseth order on first Caribbean boat strike, officials say: Kill them all

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/11/28/hegseth-kill-them-all-survivors-boat-strike

A missile screamed off the Trinidad coast, striking the vessel and igniting a blaze from bow to stern. For minutes, commanders watched the boat burning on a live drone feed. As the smoke cleared, they got a jolt: Two survivors were clinging to the smoldering wreck.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a spoken directive, according to two people with direct knowledge of the operation. “The order was to kill everybody,” one of them said.

The Special Operations commander overseeing the Sept. 2 attack — the opening salvo in the Trump administration’s war on suspected drug traffickers in the Western Hemisphere — ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions, two people familiar with the matter said. The two men were blown apart in the water.

Hegseth’s order, which has not been previously reported, adds another dimension to the campaign against suspected drug traffickers. Some current and former U.S. officials and law-of-war experts have said that the Pentagon’s lethal campaign — which has killed more than 80 people to date — is unlawful and may expose those most directly involved to future prosecution.

Pete Hegseth's "Kill Them All" Order Constitutes a War Crime!

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What is an autopen and why can’t Trump stop talking about it?

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/29/what-is-an-autopen-and-why-cant-trump-stop-talking-about-it

On Friday, Donald Trump claimed that he will reverse everything that Joe Biden has signed with an autopen.

It remains unclear how Trump plans to undo the majority of Biden’s decisions, although presidents are legally allowed to reverse executive orders signed by their predecessors. However, the president does not have authority to overturn his predecessor’s pardons, according to legal scholars who point to the constitution.

Make Money Not War: Trump’s Real Plan for Peace in Ukraine

 https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/russia-u-s-peace-business-ties-4db9b290

The Kremlin pitched the White House on peace through business. To Europe’s dismay, the president and his envoy are on board.

Counterterrorism officials vetted Guard shooting suspect before he entered U.S.

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/11/28/dc-shooting-afghan-resettlement-immigration

The Afghan national accused of shooting two National Guard members near the White House this week underwent thorough vetting by counterterrorism authorities before entering the United States, according to people with direct knowledge of the case.

A key question from critics has been whether any evacuees managed to enter the U.S. without proper vetting. Lakanwal, however, would not have been among them, according to the individuals, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation. One of the individuals said Lakanwal was vetted years ago, before working with the CIA in Afghanistan, and then again before he arrived in the U.S. in 2021. Those examinations involved both the National Counterterrorism Center as well as the CIA, the person said.

Trump rages about New York Times story on age: ‘PERFECT PHYSICAL EXAM AND A COMPREHENSIVE COGNITIVE TEST’

 https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/26/donald-trump-nyt-age-health-00669553

President Donald Trump lashed out at The New York Times for a story this week that pointed to his advanced age and a diminished White House schedule, extolling what he sees as his administration’s wins and accusing the publication of unfair coverage.

“There will be a day when I run low on Energy, it happens to everyone, but with a PERFECT PHYSICAL EXAM AND A COMPREHENSIVE COGNITIVE TEST (‘That was aced’) JUST RECENTLY TAKEN, it certainly is not now!” the president boasted on social media.

Hegseth defends strikes after WaPo ‘kill everybody’ story: ‘Fake news’

 https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5626054-defense-secretary-defends-drug-strikes

The Post cited sources who said Hegseth had ordered “to kill everybody” on an alleged drug boat in an early September attack, which reportedly required two strikes after an initial one failed to kill all on board.

The U.S. military has carried out over 20 strikes targeting alleged drug-smuggling boats, killing more than 80 people that the administration has said were “narco-terrorists.”

The strikes have resulted in backlash from both sides of the aisle, with some raising questions about the legal grounding of the attacks. 

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said in a Friday post on X sharing the Post’s report that “if you want to know why Hegseth is panicking about reminders that there is accountably for giving or carrying out illegal orders, it’s likely because he knows he has given illegal orders to murder people.”

Trump says he will pardon former Honduran president serving sentence in drug-trafficking case

 https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/28/politics/trump-honduran-president-juan-orlando-hernandez-pardon

President Donald Trump said Friday he intends to grant a “full and complete pardon” to former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, a move that would erase a major US drug-trafficking conviction for a onetime US ally who is currently serving a 45-year federal prison sentence.

Prosecutors had accused Hernández of conspiring with drug cartels during his tenure as they moved more than 400 tons of cocaine through Honduras toward the United States. In exchange, prosecutors said, Hernández received millions of dollars in bribes that he used to fuel his rise in Honduran politics.

During his years in office, the Justice Department said, Hernández “protected and enriched the drug traffickers in his inner circle.” Prosecutors cited his use of executive power to support extraditions to the US of certain drug traffickers “who threatened his grip on power,” while “promising drug traffickers who paid him and followed his instructions that they would remain in Honduras.”

The Kingmaker from Williamsburg endorsed Mamdani

 https://mishpacha.com/the-kingmaker-from-williamsburg

“How could you endorse Mamdani?” Tough questions for Satmar askan Rabbi Moishe Indig

The first anti-Semite in history was Eisav. And what did Yaakov do? He gave him piles of gifts. Ja, mein Herr. Yeah, I’m your slave, how are you? What else can I do for you? He hugged and kissed him even while Eisav was trying to bite him.

With this approach, we’ve won over many people.

For example, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso was considered for years to be an outright enemy of our community, but now he’s a great friend. The same is true for Ed Day in Monsey, and many others.

I said to him, “The perception is that you are an anti-Semite. So I want to ask you straight out, are you an anti-Semite?”

He said, “No, I’m not an anti-Semite. I just don’t like what Israel is doing in Gaza.”

Crows know the future

 Malbim (Bereishis 08:07) And Noach sent out the crow – in ancient times  they thought that crows knew about the future and therefore they had special houses for them and their priests were thought to be able to divine the future from whether they flew to the right or left or up or down whether they were silent or made noise

Political negligence: Joe slams Republicans’ ‘stupid political play’ over illegal orders

National Guard Shooting Suspect Granted Asylum by Trump Admin:

 https://www.newsweek.com/national-guard-shooting-suspect-rahmanullah-lakanwal-granted-asylum-trump-admin-11118397

The suspect in the shooting of two National Guard members near the White House on Wednesday was granted asylum by President Donald Trump's administration, it has been reported.

A source familiar with the case and a separate law enforcement source told NBC News that Rahmanullah Lakanwal was granted asylum in the U.S. this year. CBS also reported that Lakanwal had applied for asylum in 2024 and that his application was granted earlier this year.

Lakanwal, 29, is reported to be an Afghan national who came to the United States as part of Operation Allies Welcome, the Biden-era effort to resettle Afghans who assisted U.S. forces. He was then granted asylum in the U.S. in April 2025, CNN reports.

The suspect worked with the U.S. government in Afghanistan, including with the CIA, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said in a statement.